An Art Fair with Flare, SeaFair comes to Sarasota

March 19, 2011 - PRLog -- Sarasota, FL- The long awaited return of SeaFair has come.  Sarasota will be the elected city to host the floating fine art venue of Art Sarasota.  The 228-foot luxury mega-yacht received rave reviews since its debut in 2007 and will return for Art Sarasota, March 25th-28th with a VIP Preview March 24th.  SeaFair will be docked at Marina Jack’s for the duration of the Fair.  

The ship will host international dealers of a mostly contemporary genre while also incorporating a fine art component, ensuring a dynamic mix of art with something for everyone.  Attendees can expect to see a bevy of artworks including fine art glass, paintings, jewelry, design, sculpture, photography and furniture.

In collaboration with some of the exhibiting galleries the Fair will feature a number of special artist exhibitions including Projects Gallery’s (Philadelphia) art presentation of renowned local artist, Florence Putterman.  Putterman has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions in the United States and Europe. Her works have received numerous awards and can be seen in numerous museum and corporate collections including: Metropolitan Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum, New York; Chicago Art Institute, Chicago; and Jacksonville Museum, Polk Museum, and Gulf Coast Museum in Florida. Putterman is listed in Who's Who in American Art, Who's Who in American Women, and Who's Who in America.  The exhibition will display an array of works by the celebrated artist including painting and mixed media works from throughout her esteemed career.  Coinciding with the presentation will be a book signing of the artist’s autobiography Entwined Metaphors, Saturday at 3:30pm.

Other exhibition highlights include:

“The Sea”, a mixed media installation by Miami/Philadelphia based artist Frank Hyder, presented also by Projects Gallery. A Senior Fulbright grant enabled the artist to spend a year in cloud forest of Venezuela, after which this artist has staged a number of installations in Miami, New York, and Chicago, which are based on his sense of living immersed in a tropical world. These take on the character of cave-like spaces. As one steps into these spaces the bustle of the outside disappears, filling the eyes and ears of the viewer with a tranquility of surprising richness.

An extensive collection of works by the acclaimed artist Robert Cottingham will be featured in the Forum Gallery (New York) exhibition, “Picturing America”.  Cottingham is considered one of America’s most renowned photorealist.  His iconic paintings of America have been exhibited throughout the world, and are instantly recognized wherever they are shown.  The exhibition will present approximately 13 of his works ranging from 1981-2009.

Art Sarasota is honored to present a one-man exhibition by renowned fine glass artist Dale Chihuly entitled VENETIAN SERIES REVISITED.  The exhibition, brought by Art Link International (Lake Worth), will feature works from his acclaimed Venetian Series (Completed in the 80’s), in addition to more recent works.  Chihuly’s work is internationally celebrated and is included in more than 200 museum collections worldwide. His most well known work locally is perhaps the Persian Ceiling and majestic chandeliers at the Naples Museum of Art. He has also been the recipient of many awards, including ten honorary doctorates and two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.  

Habatat Galleries (Royal Oak) will exhibit an outstanding installation by world-renowned metal sculptor, Albert Paley.  The exhibition will feature mixed media sculptures of bronze and glass, in addition to more functional pieces such as decorative lamps and tables.  Paley’s style is dominated by nature; always having a sense of the organic, similar to the flowing lines of the Art Nouveau.  Works by the internationally known artist can be found in the permanent collections of many major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.  

Among Art Sarasota’s distinguished exhibitors include Harmon-Meek Gallery (Naples), Holden Luntz Gallery (Palm Beach), Forum Gallery (New York), Mark Helliar 20th Century Design (Los Angeles), Berengo Studio 1989 (Murano), Habatat Galleries (Michigan), Michael James Fine Art (London), The Silver Fund (London), Projects Gallery (Philadelphia), Artlink International (Lake Worth), Modern Masters (Indianapolis), Sherry’s Gifts of Gilt (Boca Raton) and Certified Jewelers (Naples).    

Art Sarasota is organized by International Fine Art Expositions (IFAE) and founded by fair directors David and Lee Ann Lester.  The Lesters have organized over 70 international art and antique fairs in London, Hong Kong, New York, Chicago, Miami, Palm Beach, Beverly Hills and Dallas. In addition to operating SeaFair, the firm currently organizes the Miami International Art Fair (MIA), Art Palm Beach, American International Fine Art Fair, Naples International Art & Antique Fair, Art Naples and London’s Summer Olympia Art & Antique Fair.

The Fair will partner with SARASOTA Magazine, Sarasota Museum of Art, the Arts Alliance of Contemporary Glass and the Sarasota Open.  Private and public events and programming will take place throughout the weekend.

For more information on exhibitors, events and programming we welcome you to visit the SeaFair website at www.expoships.com or call us at 239 273 1455.